The Senate said no to the smoking ban the house passed a few weeks ago. Ed Rendell and the Democrats want it badly, the Republican controlled senate wants a weaker one. There is some hope for Keystone State smokers:

The House ban required a stricter, more limited list of exceptions than legislation recently approved by the Senate.

Senate legislation allowed smoking at a quarter of casino gambling floors, bars where food is less than one-fifth of the gross sales, addiction treatment centers, nursing homes and other adult-care centers.

The hope is they won’t be able to work out a deal. I’m not so optimistic. Daine Phillips, of the American Cancer Society says:

Nonsmokers have a right to go somewhere else that caters to their preferences. They have a right to persuade property owners to ban smoking on their property. Ms. Phillips, I am not, nor have I ever been a smoker, but crapping on people’s freedoms and liberties of free association and property rights, is a filthy expensive habit, that you really ought to break yourself of.

My mother died of Breast Cancer when I was twenty. But I shall not give another dime to ACS as long as they keep pushing for these smoking bans. Freedom is more important.

I’m not a smoker, and to tell the truth I actually hate coming home and smelling like cigarettes after a night out. But it never occurred to me to use the force of law to impose my views on others. If I feel a restaurant is too smoky, I don’t go back. Most restaurants around here that allow smoking, I’ve never smelled it, nor have I come home wrecking of tobacco smoke.

Modern progressives are all about personal freedom, as long as your gay, or have an unwanted pregnancy. I’d say opposed minorities too, but what the hell are smokers?